Ideas and Inspiration for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers

By James Hutchings

If you want to spark new ideas for worlds, plots or characters, you want Ideas and Inspiration for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers. Medicinal corpses, the jargons of thieves and carnies, Nazi UFOs, the colonization of space and green children from nowhere are only a few of the topics covered. This sourcebook is for all writers of fantasy or science fiction--whether novels, short stories, games, or any other form of storytelling.

The following topics are covered:

5-Alpha-Reductase Deficiency
Albinos, African, Murder of
Alphabets, Sympathetic
Animals, Characteristics Wrongly Attributed to
Animals, Unnerving Behaviors of
Antarctica, Secret Nazi Bases In
Banditry, Social
Batavia, the, Wreck of
Bear-Baiting and Variants
'Bear', Meanings of Native Words For
Bethlem Hospital, Tours of
Body Parts Used for Medical Purposes
Book Curses
Bourdin, Frederic
Cat Pianos
Colors, Impossible
Counting Coup
Cydonian Hypothesis, The
D'Aubigny, Julie
Delusional Misidentification Syndrome
Dinosaur Civilization
Doomsday Argument, The
Drapetomania
El Dorado
Emperor Frederick II, Experiments of
Eternal Recurrence
Experiments In the Revival of Organisms
Fermi's Paradox
Feuding
Fox-Tossing
Freaks, Faked
George V, Death of
Ghosts and Visions In English and American Court Cases
God, Names of
Green Children of Woolpit, The, and Other Green-Skinned People In Folklore
Hands of Glory
Heads, Disembodied or Severed But Apparently Conscious
Hell According to Emanuel Swedenborg
Hendley-Freegard, Robert
Hermits, Hiring of
Hero's Journey, The
Hinterkaifeck Murders, the
Icke, David
Jinmenken
Kennings
Lord of the Rings, The, Possible African Inspiration For
Lost Continents
Lovecraft, H.P., Selections From the Commonplace Book of
Love, Origin of
Magicians
Magic, Principles of
Mandrake Root, The
Marriages or Sexual Relations Between Humans and Inanimate Objects
Mars, Late th and Early th Century Western Depictions of
Mengele, Josef, Identification of American Serial Killers With
Mordake, Edward
Morning of the Magicians, The
Names, Magical Properties of
Nemi, Priesthood of
Odin, Titles of
Pharaohs, the, Curse of
Preestablished Harmony
Psalmanazar, George
Pythagorean Brotherhood, The
Quantum Suicide and Quantum Immortality
Quotes, Miscellaneous
Rampa, Lobsang
Rat Kings
Raubal, Geli
Rubinstein, Sylvin
St. Germain, Comte de
Santa Muerte
Satan, Names and Titles of
Schaefer, Paul
Science Fiction, Generating Ideas For
Scientific Questions, Unanswered
Senses Other than the Traditional Five
Simulation Argument, The
Solly, Elmer
Space Colonies
Stock Characters of the Past
Thieves' Cant, Carny Lingo, and Similar Expressions
Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations, The
Tides, Magical Properties of
Time Travel, Carl Sagan on the Possibility of
Toft, Mary
Traveler's Tales
Tuho, Proprieties to be Observed Before Playing
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, The
UFOs, Dreams of
Underground Worlds
Venus In th Century Science Fiction
Victorian Era, Grotesqueries of
Waste, Nuclear, Warning Future Cultures Away From
Zombies

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Hutchings
• Release date: Mar 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310823947

James Hutchings

James Hutchings lives in Melbourne, Australia. His work has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Enchanted Conversation and fiction365 among other markets.

Book preview

Ideas and Inspiration for Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers

Published by James Hutchings at Smashwords

Copyright 2016 James Hutchings

+++

Dedicated to Heather: editor and muse.

Thanks also to Nadia for her help with editing.

Finally, thanks also to everyone who has put information for free on the internet, especially Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg.

CONTENTS

1: 5-Alpha-Reductase Deficiency

2: Albinos, African, Murder of

3: Alphabets, Sympathetic

4: Animals, Characteristics Wrongly Attributed to

5: Animals, Unnerving Behaviors of

6: Antarctica, Secret Nazi Bases In

7: Banditry, Social

8: Batavia, the, Wreck of

9: Bear-Baiting and Variants

10: 'Bear', Meanings of Native Words For

11: Bethlem Hospital, Tours of

12: Body Parts Used for Medical Purposes

13: Book Curses

14: Bourdin, Frederic

15: Cat Pianos

16: Colors, Impossible

17: Counting Coup

18: Cydonian Hypothesis, The

19: D'Aubigny, Julie

20: Delusional Misidentification Syndrome

21: Dinosaur Civilization

22: Doomsday Argument, The

23: Drapetomania

24: El Dorado

25: Emperor Frederick II, Experiments of

26: Eternal Recurrence

27: Experiments In the Revival of Organisms

28: Fermi's Paradox

29: Feuding

30: Fox-Tossing

31: Freaks, Faked

32: George V, Death of

33: Ghosts and Visions In English and American Court Cases

34: God, 99 Names of

35: Green Children of Woolpit, The, and Other Green-Skinned People In Folklore

36: Hands of Glory

37: Heads, Disembodied or Severed But Apparently Conscious

38: Hell According to Emanuel Swedenborg

39: Hendley-Freegard, Robert

40: Hermits, Hiring of

41: Hero's Journey, The

42: Hinterkaifeck Murders, the

43: Icke, David

44: Jinmenken

45: Kennings

46: Lord of the Rings, The, Possible African Inspiration For

47: Lost Continents

48: Lovecraft, H.P., Selections From the Commonplace Book of

49: Love, Origin of

50: Magicians

51: Magic, Principles of

52: Mandrake Root, The

53: Marriages or Sexual Relations Between Humans and Inanimate Objects

54: Mars, Late 19th and Early 20th Century Western Depictions of

55: Mengele, Josef, Identification of American Serial Killers With

56: Mordake, Edward

57: Morning of the Magicians, The

58: Names, Magical Properties of

59: Nemi, Priesthood of

60: Odin, Titles of

61: Pharaohs, the, Curse of

62: Preestablished Harmony

63: Psalmanazar, George

64: Pythagorean Brotherhood, The

65: Quantum Suicide and Quantum Immortality

66: Quotes, Miscellaneous

67: Rampa, Lobsang

68: Rat Kings

69: Raubal, Geli

70: Rubinstein, Sylvin

71: St. Germain, Comte de

72: Santa Muerte

73: Satan, Names and Titles of

74: Schaefer, Paul

75: Science Fiction, Generating Ideas For

76: Scientific Questions, Unanswered

77: Senses Other than the Traditional Five

78: Simulation Argument, The

79: Solly, Elmer

80: Space Colonies

81: Stock Characters of the Past

82: Thieves' Cant, Carny Lingo, and Similar Expressions

83: Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations, The

84: Tides, Magical Properties of

85: Time Travel, Carl Sagan on the Possibility of

86: Toft, Mary

87: Traveler's Tales

88: Tuho, Proprieties to be Observed Before Playing

89: Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, The

90: UFOs, Dreams of

91: Underground Worlds

92: Venus In 20th Century Science Fiction

93: Victorian Era, Grotesqueries of

94: Waste, Nuclear, Warning Future Cultures Away From

95: Zombies

Afterword: Using the Ideas in this Book, and Contacting Me

Bibliography

1: 5-Alpha-Reductase Deficiency

5-Alpha-Reductase Deficiency, or 5-ARD, is a condition which can cause a child to be born apparently female, and become apparently male during puberty. Children with 5-ARD are born, and remain, genetically male--that is, with an X and a Y chromosome rather than two Xs.

5-ARD is inherited, and recessive (that is, a child must inherit the gene from both parents in order to have 5-ARD). This means that it is more likely to appear in isolated areas. 5-ARD has been reported in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, the southwest of the Dominican Republic, and the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey. The group in the Dominican Republic is the largest: a study in the 1970s found 36 people with 5-ARD in a group of 24 inter-related families.

5-Alpha-Reductase is an enzyme which, in males without 5-ARD, converts testosterone into dihydrotestosterone, the hormone responsible for the development of male genitalia. Babies with 5-ARD are born with testicles, which are hidden by what appears to be a vagina. They have a clitoris-like penis.

During puberty, males both with and without 5-ARD produce another enzyme, 5-Alpha-Reductase type 1. In individuals with 5-ARD, this is enough to cause the testicles to descend and the penis to grow. The penis may or may not be capable of erection, ejaculation, and/or intercourse.

Men with 5-ARD tend to have less facial hair than males without 5-ARD, and do not experience male pattern baldness. In general, men with 5-ARD can produce viable sperm.

The Spanish-language term for a person with 5-ARD is 'guevedoche' or 'guevedoce', from the phrase 'huevos a los doce', or 'eggs at twelve'. In Papua New Guinea, one term is 'turnim-man'.

2; Albinos, African, Murder of

According to the charity Under the Same Sun, murders of and assaults on albinos are common in Sub-Saharan Africa. They say that the following beliefs about albinos are common:

* Albinism is a curse from the gods or from dead ancestors. As a result, contact with an albino will bring bad luck, sickness or death. Alternatively, it is common to believe that albinos are born because of a fault of the mother.

* Albinos are not humans, but ghosts, and never die.

* Sex with an albino will cure AIDS.

* A magic charm or potion made from the body parts of an albino will bring wealth, success or luck.

The oldest form of killing of albinos is infanticide. Such killings were often done in secret and the birth not acknowledged. In some cases the midwife would kill the child, and report that it was stillborn.

Some tribes practiced a ritual in which the child was supposed to have the chance to live, but in fact inevitably died. Thus the Digo tribe of north-eastern Tanzania dropped the newborn into a lake. Pastoral communities of east Africa such as the Masaai of Kenya and Tanzania left the child at the doorway of a cattle kraal, where it would be trampled by cattle going to graze.

The Sukuma tribe of north-western Tanzania once killed albino babies at birth, but changed to the practice of leaving them alive until a chief died, upon which they would be buried alive, to act as escorts into the afterlife.

Some practices are more recent and, according to Under the Same Sun, have been made worse by the free market. In Tanzania a more open market has increased inequality and the pressure of competition, which in turn has increased the population's belief in witchcraft. It is common, but not readily admitted, for miners to use the body parts of albinos, particularly bones. These are worn as amulets or buried, in the hope of finding gold. A similar phenomenon has been recorded among fishermen on Lake Victoria in Tanzania, who weave the hair of albinos into their nets to improve their catches.

Witchdoctors also propagate the beliefs that the body parts of albinos bring wealth and good fortune, in order to raise their price. In Tanzania, a set of body parts from a single albino including all four limbs, genitals, ears, tongue and nose sold for US$75,000, in a region where most people live at or below poverty level.

See also:

12: Body Parts Used for Medical Purposes

Willie and George Muse in 31: Freaks, Faked

3: Alphabets, Sympathetic

A sympathetic alphabet is a method supposed to allow two people to communicate instantly across any distance.

Two people each had a piece of flesh cut from their arm. Each piece was transplanted into the other person's arm while still warm and bleeding. The pieces were supposed to grow into the new arms, but retain a connection to the old.

The letters of the alphabet were tattooed upon each transplanted piece. When one person pricked their arm with a magnetic needle, the other person was supposed to feel pain in the corresponding letter, allowing the two to exchange messages.

4: Animals, Characteristics Wrongly Attributed to

Animals in General

Rene Descartes claims that all non-human animals are 'automata'. That is, they have no thoughts, feelings, or sensations, just as if they were clockwork devices made to resemble living things.

One consequence of this is that cruelty to animals is impossible. If a person tortures an animal to death, the animal will appear to be in pain. However, Descartes says that this is an illusion: the animal is not suffering, any more than an alarm clock suffers if someone smashes it. Consequences such as this inspired others to call Descartes' idea a monstrous thesis.

Apes

Apes are always born as twins. The mother will love one, and hate the other. When she runs, she will hold the one she loves in her arms. The one she hates must cling to her back. But when the mother ape is in danger of being caught by a predator or a hunter, and tired from carrying her two children, she will drop the one in her arms. The hated child, clinging to her back, will be saved.

Apes are happiest at the new moon. They grow sad as it wanes.

Barnacle Geese

There is a type of tree which grows over water, and produces birds which look like small geese as its 'fruit'. The birds hang from the tree by their beaks. When they are mature enough, they fall from the tree. If they fall onto land they die, and if they fall into the water they live.

Bears

Bear cubs are always born in winter. They are born as a shapeless, eyeless lump of flesh. The mother bear must lick the lump into the shape of a bear.

Bees

A community of bees will choose the most noble among them to be king. Communities of bees sometimes go to war. The laws of bees are based on custom, but the king does not enforce the law. Rather, those who break the law punish themselves, by stinging themselves to death.

Camels

In India and the countries around there are many camels. Camels are wild beasts like goats. They live on air, never eating or drinking. They can change their color to whatever they choose, except red or white.

Crocodiles

In India and neighboring lands there are also many crocodiles. These are long serpents, who live in the water at night and on rocks and in caves during the day. All winter they eat nothing, but lie in a dream, as do all serpents. They kill and eat humans, but weep as they do so, and they have no tongues.

Hyenas

Hyenas change from male to female and back again. They live near tombs, and eat the corpses.

There is a stone in the hyena's eye--or, some say, in the stomach of its cubs--with the power that, if a person places it under their tongue, they can tell the future.

Hyenas circle houses at night, calling out words in human voices. Anyone who goes outside to investigate is eaten.

A dog that crosses a hyena's shadow will lose its voice.

Lions

Lion cubs are born dead. They come to life when the mother breathes in their faces or the father roars over them.

Lions and ants can mate. However, the offspring will die. This is because it will have the face of a lion and the body of an ant. The lion head will only eat meat, and the ant body will only be able to process grain. Thus the ant-lion will starve to death.

Pelicans

When young pelicans grow strong enough, they attack their mother, pecking her face. The mother strikes back, and kills her young. The young lie dead for several days. Then the mother pierces her breast, and the blood falling on them brings them back to life.

Swordfish

The swordfish uses its pointed beak to sink ships.

Tigers

The parasitic microscopic organism found in the paw of the Asiatic tiger is a miniature image of the tiger itself.

Weasels

Female weasels give birth through the ears: the right ear for male children and the left ear for female.

Weasels are skilled in medicine--so much so that they can revive their young if they are killed.

Wolves

If a wolf sees a man before the man sees the wolf, the man is struck mute. But if the man sees the wolf first, the wolf cannot be fierce.

If a wolf steps on a branch and makes a noise, it punishes itself by biting the paw.

5: Animals, Unnerving Behaviors of

Some species of moth drink the tears of other animals.

Male king penguins store food in their stomach, without digesting it, for weeks, then regurgitate it for their young to eat.

Male flour beetles use their spiny genitals to scrape other males' sperm out of their partners' genitals. This can backfire, as the sperm can stick to the male's genitals, and survive, impregnating another female if the male mates again soon.

Male spiders of the genus Tidarren chew off one of their genital organs before mating.

Female house sparrows track down and kill children that their male partner has had with someone else.

Spring peeper toads freeze solid for most of the winter.

Desert horned lizards squirt foul-tasting blood from their eyes as a defence.

Magnificent frigatebirds inflate a sac of skin on their neck, and beat on it to attract a mate.

6: Antarctica, Secret Nazi Bases In

Ernst Zundel is a German-Canadian neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier. In the late 70s he wrote two books claiming that there were secret Nazi bases still operational in Antarctica. His theory was as follows:

From 1935 to 1939, a secret German expedition to Antarctica discovered nearly tropical islands, free from ice. The German government established bases there.

Towards the end of World War Two, a convoy of German submarines left Norway for Antarctica. The convoy carried Hitler, Eva Braun, and German troops and scientists.

An American expedition of 40 ships and 4,000 troops was sent to Antarctica in 1947, in a failed attempt to destroy this last contingent of the New Order. The Nazis sent wingless aircraft to 'buzz' the Capitol in Washington, in order to intimidate the US government. UFOs are in fact aircraft developed in Antarctica by the Nazis.

Zundel was contemptuous of the saucer-charlatans in old-line UFO groups and publications who asserted that UFOs were from other planets. He described the theory that UFOs are alien as the official CIA-KGB alibi, fairy tale fantasies of 'little green men', and childish nonsense and outright lies.

He claimed to have established research teams who had developed propulsion systems unprecedented in today's aerospace technology.

Zundel's theory included a hollow Earth. In 1979 he announced a planned expedition by plane to fly over Antarctica, looking for both Nazi bases and an entrance to the hollow Earth. This expedition never took place.

He later claimed that the entire theory was for fun, and a way to draw attention to his views. In a review of one of Zundel's books, Frank Miele of the Skeptics Society wrote that I'm still not sure whether Zundel really believes any of this esoteric stuff or whether he's just learned how effective pushing hot buttons is in grabbing the media spotlight and perhaps bringing in donations.

Zundel appears to have based his books on previous fringe and occult theories, as well as some historical facts.

Nazi Germany claimed part of Antarctica, and sent an expedition there in 1938. Other expeditions were planned, but this was interrupted by World War Two.

During World War Two, some Allied pilots reported phenomena which would now be called UFOs. They were then nicknamed 'foo fighters', and were often assumed to be enemy secret weapons.

Personnel of Project Sign, a US Air Force project investigating UFOs, noted that some UFO reports sounded similar to the 'flying wing' designs proposed by the Horten brothers in Germany in the 1930s and 40s.

After World War Two there were frequent rumors, especially in Germany, that Hitler had survived the war. In a poll taken in Berlin in April 1946, less than 1 in 10 respondents believed that Hitler was dead. Rumors had him living in Europe, South America, the United States, or at sea commanding a 'wolfpack' of U-boats.

During and after World War Two, there was a pro-Nazi secret society in Chile. The leader of the group claimed to be in 'astral contact' with Hitler, both during and after the war. Miguel Serrano, a member of this group, believed that Hitler may have been in Antarctica. In the capacity of a journalist he accompanied the Chilean Army and Navy on their expedition to Antarctica in 1947-8. He failed to find Hitler. He later developed the following theory:

Hitler was under Antarctica, in the mystic city of Shambhala (formerly located in Tibet and at the North Pole). Hitler was in contact with the Hyperboreans. The Hyperboreans were beings from outside the material universe. Asexual, they reproduced by plasmic emanations from their ethereal bodies. The last documents relating to them were destroyed with the Great Library of Alexandria, and they have been misunderstood as aliens from another planet. Hitler will one day emerge with a fleet of UFOs, to establish a new Reich.

There are several fringe theories about secret Nazi technology. For example 'Die Glocke' (German for 'The Bell'), is said to be a metal device about 9 feet wide by 12-15 feet high (2.5 meters wide by 3.5-4.5 meters high), which caused crystals to form in animal tissue, blood to gel and separate, and plants to decompose into a grease-like substance, to a range of 150-200 meters (500-650 feet). A separate story describes a concave mirror on top of a similar device, which gave the ability to see images from the past.

In 1979, serial killer Richard Chase told an FBI agent that Nazi UFOs had forced him to commit his crimes, and that prison officials in league with Nazis were poisoning his food. This, however, does not appear to have been integrated into Zundel's theory.

See also:

55: Mengele, Josef, Identification of American Serial Killers With

90: UFOs, Dreams of

Other Beliefs in Mythology and Occultism in 91: Underground Worlds

7: Banditry, Social

The Ideal

Stories of outlaws who are just, while the law they break is unjust, are found throughout the world.

These stories of 'social bandits' have several common features:

* They take place in agricultural, pre-industrial societies, in the countryside.

* The outlaw commits their crimes as part of a group.

* The outlaw does not become an outlaw by deciding to commit a crime. Instead they are the victim of injustice or persecution. They may have committed an act which the law, but not public opinion, considers to be a crime, such as killing someone in revenge.

* The outlaw rights wrongs. In particular, they take from the rich and give to the poor.

* The outlaw is not a wanton killer. They will kill, but only in circumstances which custom considers legitimate, such as self-defense or revenge. Societies which produce bandits are likely to consider many acts of violence acceptable which a modern person would not. For example, they may consider members of different ethnicities or religions to be 'fair game'.

* The outlaw is admired, helped and supported by the community (that is, by the oppressed majority). In some cases they may even stay in their village, only hiding in the hills or the forest when representatives of authority arrive (the Macedonian bandit Kota Christov was his village's innkeeper and leading citizen).

* If the outlaw survives, they end their outlawry and are accepted back into their community.

If the outlaw dies, they die by treason. They are too clever to be taken fairly, and no respectable member of the community would help capture them.

* The community often has faith in their ultimate rulers, and blames their oppression on wicked local officials. If this is true, the outlaw is not the enemy of the good rulers.

It is not that peasant communities admire all outlaws. Indeed they generally make a sharp distinction between good outlaws and bad.

The Reality

The most famous example in English is Robin Hood, who may be entirely fictional. However, most 'social bandits' were real people, and in many cases the admiring stories about them were told when they were actually operating.

The extent to which these bandits lived up to their myth varies greatly. At one extreme, some bandits made cynical use of the image of the 'good outlaw'. For example the Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano rhetorically asked, how could a Giuliano, loving the poor and hating the rich, ever turn against the masses of the workers?--soon after massacring several of those same workers in retaliation for a left-wing election victory.

To a great extent, bandits do rob from the rich- if only because the rich have more that is worth taking. They tend to leave the poor alone, at least in their own district, if only because they would soon be betrayed if they did not. It is also common for bandits to give to the poor. In the societies from which bandits come, it is often an obligation and a mark of status for someone who has money to be generous and charitable.

Who Becomes a Social Bandit?

In real life, these outlaws tend to come from similar backgrounds:

* They are usually unmarried males aged between 15 and 30. There are likely to be more of these if the society has a practice of killing girl babies.

* They are usually members of the main body of the people, not members of despised, outcast groups such as untouchables or gypsies, and not aristocrats. It is not that gypsies and aristocrats do not become outlaws. Indeed impoverished 'gentlemen', often trained in violence, allowed greater access to weapons, and raised to regard war as their proper occupation, are particularly likely to turn to banditry. Rather, such bandits would not regard the main body of the people as 'their own', nor vice versa. It should be noted, however, that if stories about a particular outlaw become respectable, they can be 'promoted' over time. Thus Robin Hood, originally depicted as a commoner, is now usually depicted as a wronged Earl.

* They are more likely to come from groups that are not employed year-round: day-laborers and farm-hands are more typical bandits than farmers and artisans. They may come from groups that are denied employment altogether: runaway serfs, escapees from jail, or men who have nothing to inherit (such as, in Russia under the Tsars, priests' sons). They are particularly likely to be returned soldiers or deserters, who may combine training in violence, lack of employment, and alienation.

Banditry and Revolution

A bandit is, obviously, a rebel, but not necessarily a revolutionary.

On the whole, bandits want an imaginary 'good old days': they do not want to get rid of all lords, but only the current, bad lords, who do not live up to their traditional obligations.

For their part, local rulers are likely to negotiate with bandits. In societies which produce bandits, the central government is likely to be weak, uninterested in affairs far from the capital, and if they do send 'help' it is likely to be dangerous. A Brazilian land-owner of the 1930s claimed that, I much prefer dealing with bandits than with the police...if we say we don't know [the bandits' escape routes] they beat us. If we tell them, they still beat us, because that proves we have been tied up with the bandits..

If a bandit does ally with revolutionaries, it is likely to be because they admire the revolutionaries' courage and self-sacrifice, rather than because they agree with their ideology in detail.

8: Batavia, the, Wreck of

The Batavia was a ship owned by the Dutch East India Company. She set out on the 27th of October, 1628, as part of a fleet bound for the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).

Those on board were sharply divided between the few in the 'great cabin', and the ordinary sailors and soldiers in the 'steerage' at the front of the ship.

On the ships of the Dutch East India Company the schipper, or skipper, was responsible for all aspects of handling the ship. Yet he was not a captain in the modern sense. He was outranked by the opperkoopman, or supercargo, who was a merchant rather than a sailor. Most supercargos had no experience of the sea and little idea of how to manage a ship. The Batavia's supercargo was named Francisco Pelsaert.

The skipper, Ariaen Jacobsz, was over forty, and therefore one of the oldest men on board--sailors generally died young. A decade earlier, while on a drinking binge in India, he had met Pelsaert and insulted him. He had been publicly rebuked, and held Pelsaert responsible.

The supercargo's assistant was named Jeronimus Cornelisz (pronounced 'Corneliszoon'; it was usual not to write the 'oon' of 'zoon', or 'son'). He was educated for the time, a former apothecary, but nearly bankrupt. He was, however, not fleeing creditors. He was in danger of being arrested, because of his association with the painter Torrentius, who had been arrested, tortured and condemned for heresy. Cornelisz came from the most privileged background of anyone on the ship--someone who, in normal circumstances, would never have gone to sea. The average life expectancy of a merchant newly arrived in the Indies was three years. Of the million or so people who sailed with the Dutch East India Company, fewer than one in three returned, and only a few lived to old age in the Indies. Dysentry, then called 'the bloody flux', was a major killer, but others died at sea, in battle with the local people, or were executed by the Dutch authorities.

Also in the great cabin was Lucretia van der Mijlen, an upper-class young woman who was traveling to the Indies to join her husband. Pelsaert, Jacobsz and Cornelisz all lusted after her.

The atmosphere in the great cabin was, therefore, strained. Author and academic Simon Leys describes the small group bundled up in the heavy black suits that the Dutch sense of propriety dictated they wear, even in the tropics. Round the common table, three times a day for the hundred and eighty days it took to reach the Cape [of Good Hope, now in South Africa], they could only glare at each other, stiff, red-faced and oozing sweat.

When they reached the Cape, tensions rose further. Jacobsz had become friendly with Cornelisz. The two went rowing to visit the other ships in the fleet. Jacobsz became thoroughly drunk, and began to insult, and even assault, other crewmembers. Pelsaert formally rebuked him. There were no secrets on board ship, and Jacobsz's humiliation increased his resentment.

Jacobsz and Cornelisz decided to take over the ship. The ship already carried twelve chests filled with silver ingots and coins, pearls, and other jewels. After a year or two of piracy, they believed, they would have enough to be wealthy for the rest of their lives. If they took the ship to a port controlled by England, Portugal, or any other rival power, they would be welcomed.

The ordinary crew had little reason for loyalty. Samuel Johnson wrote that a ship at sea was a jail with the chance of being drowned. On the Batavia more than three hundred people shared four latrines (those in the great cabin used chamber pots). To save fresh water the crew sometimes had to wash their clothes in urine. On a typical voyage to the Indies, twenty to thirty men would get scurvy, swelling and rotting like corpses before they died. In the soldiers' quarters the roof beams were so low it was impossible to stand upright, and there were no vents or portholes. They were sometimes confined to this dark and airless 'cow-deck' for 23 hours in the day. The food was often moldy or filled with grubs, and discipline was sadistic. 'Insolence' could be punished by being manacled hand and foot and thrown into the 'hell'-- a tiny cell in which it was impossible to either stand up or lie down--sometimes for weeks. Company regulations specified that anyone pulling a knife in anger shall be nailed to the mast with a knife through his hand, and shall remain standing until he pulls his hand off.

Jacobsz took advantage of variable winds to gradually steer the ship away from the others in the fleet. It was fairly common for ships to lose sight of one another, and did not raise any suspicions.

Cornelisz and Jacobsz then planned to stage a crime, anonymously, so that Pelsaert would punish the entire crew. This, they hoped, would make it easier to recruit mutineers.

They chose Lucretia van der Mijlen for their victim. At night eight masked men threw her to the ground, lifted her skirt and petticoats, and smeared her with excrement and tar.

Pelsaert led an inquest. He did not, however, change the routine of the ship. He had only recently recovered from a fever. More importantly, Van der Mijlen was able to identify one of her attackers, a man close to Jacobsz. Pelsaert suspected that Jacobsz was the true originator of the act.

Jacobsz did not realise that he was suspected. He believed that Pelsaert would arrest suspects once the Batavia came in sight of Java, giving a good opportunity to mutiny.

At the time, it was possible to precisely measure latitude--the distance north or south of the equator--but not longitude--the position east or west of a given point. Dutch sailors used 'dead reckoning', estimating their position from the colour of the water, the appearance of seaweed, or birds circling overhead. Far out to sea, where none of these signs appeared, they would estimate their speed by throwing a piece of wood overboard and watching how long it took to pass two notches. The only way to keep time was using an hourglass or a human pulse. It was common for estimates to be off by 500 miles or more.

On the 2rd of June 1629, Jacobsz had estimated that the ship was 600 miles (965km) from the nearest land. In fact it was roughly 40 miles (65km) from the Australian coast, and in the middle of a group of reefs and coral islets. On the night of the 3rd of June the Batavia struck a reef.

In an effort to lighten the ship, the crew cut down the main mast and threw it overboard, along with the guns and anchor. After several hours, it was obvious that the Batavia was going nowhere until the waves broke it to pieces.

Ships of the time carried little in the way of life-saving equipment. Most people, even most sailors, could not swim. The Batavia had two boats, which could carry at most fifty people between them--less than one-sixth